Search for investor to help run e-waste plant still on

Friday October 13 2017

In Summary

The recycling facility in Bugesera district in Eastern province, which started operations last December, is supposed to collect and recycle electronic waste, refurbish old IT equipment while recovering valuable materials for export.

While the high tech plant has managed to dismantle and recycle some ICT devices, there is still untapped potential in e-waste management.

As the ICT sector grows around the world, e-waste managing is becoming a nightmare to the extent that some countries in Africa, have become dumping sites for old digital devices.

The recycling facility in Bugesera district in Eastern province, which started operations last December, is supposed to collect and recycle electronic waste, refurbish old IT equipment while recovering valuable materials for export.

The $1.5 million project, led by Ministry of Trade and Industry, is meant to reduce the ICT industry’s environmental footprint. The ministry is now rooting for a public private partnership model to boost the plant’s output and create new business opportunities related to e-waste management.

“The government has, through normal procurement procedures, been looking for an investor that we can partner with to run the facility, process is still ongoing” said Olivier Mbera, manager for the e-waste project at Ministry of Trade and Industry.

According to Mr Mbera, the private investor will expand, and start other lines for recycling, adding, “It’s the wish of the government to see the facility function properly.”

The facility has an installed capacity of 7,000 tonnes of e-waster a year, making it the second largest e-waste recycling plant in Africa after a South Africa.

According to data from the facility’s management, more than 120 tonnes of e-waste has been treated since the beginning of operations.

“Our role was to show the private sector that this can be done,” explained Mr Mbera.

EngineerColette Ruhamya, director of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) earlier said broken computers, laptops, printers and other obsolete electronics from government offices and other institutions such as schools and universities, “are mostly locked up in rooms at the different user points.”

As the ICT sector grows around the world, e-waste managing is becoming a nightmare to the extent that some countries in Africa, have become dumping sites for old digital devices.

Mr Mbera told Rwanda Today in the country, one of challenges in e-waste materials management, people don’t want to dispose their old and unused devices, yet they pose danger to their health and the environment.